The Gardening Gleaning Project is a collaborative effort of numerous nonprofits working to build relationships between gardeners and food shelves to improve healthy food access. The Garden Gleaning Project is housed at The Minnesota Project, but the project is also guided by Emergency Foodshelf Network, Minnesota Foodshare, Hennepin County Human Public Health Department and our 7 partner food shelves. Each food shelf is being supported by a Neighborhood Coordinator that works to build relationships in their communities between their food shelf and nearby community and home gardeners. Since 2011, the program has delivered nearly 80,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to our partner food shelves.

Planning for the next growing season?Each food shelf has different preferences.The most important thing is to talk with your nearest food shelf where you plan to donate to see what they want! Here's the lists of foods preferred by the food shelves in The Gardening Gleaning Project:

History
In 2010-2011, two food shelves explored different models of food collection and distribution in their communities: Little Kitchen Food Shelf in Northeast Minneapolis and Waite House in South Minneapolis. The year was a great success. Together, the food shelves collected donations of over 1,600 pounds of produce from gardens, farmer’s market vendors, and urban farms. An additional 5,734 pounds of produce was donated from local organizations aside from food banks.

Both food shelves were recognized by the Emergency Foodshelf Network with an award for their innovative programs and involvement with the inaugural year of the Garden Gleaning Project.